Genuine question: why does criticism of Steam seem to be so unpopular here?

2026-08-10 21:38 UTC

Something I’ve noticed in this community is that whenever I criticize Steam, or point out something I don’t like about the platform, I tend to get a ton of downvotes. And honestly, I’m just curious why. This is a piracy-oriented community, so I find it kinda interesting that Steam seems to have such a strong positive reputation here. I’m not saying people shouldn’t like Steam, obviously everyone has their own reasons for using it. Steam is convenient, has huge sales, supports Linux, has a massive library of games, etc. I completely get why people use it. I’m just wondering where the line is for people. For example, do you like Steam despite the DRM because the convenience outweighs the negatives? Do you see Steam as fundamentally different from other forms of DRM? Do you consider Valve one of the “good guys” in the industry? Or do you simply see Steam as a convenient storefront and don’t really think much about the DRM side of it? Or maybe you actually agree with some of the criticism of Steam, but just think it’s being exaggerated. For me personally, I don’t use Steam because I don’t really like having my games tied to an account and a platform. I’d rather have the actual files, be able to back them up, move them around, mod them and know that I still have them years later. That’s basically what I was getting at in that video I made about Steam as well. But I’m not trying to start another “Steam bad!” argument here. I’m genuinely curious because sometimes the reaction seems surprisingly pro-Steam considering the nature of this community. So what is it about Steam that you guys actually appreciate?

Replies (10)

@Estebiu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2026-08-11 09:18

I have a steam deck and play on pc too, and steam sync it’s really convenient. And i like how after i finish a game, I can delete it to save space, then come back 2 years later and my save files will still be in the cloud, without me thinking about it too hard Yes, I know there’s syncthing, and I use it to sync save files of 1 game, but urghh it’s complex to set up

Open ##4494331
@KssioAug@piefed.zip 2026-08-11 00:13

I think people tend to be naive about Steam. I mean, I DO think that Steam is miles better than Sony/Microsoft/Nintendo/Epic and I would say they’re probably one of the biggest responsibles to make Linux that much more popular (both for consumer and for devs) in the latest years. But I don’t know what’s gonna happen to Steam after Gabe Newell leaves. I think there’s a huge risk for a dramatic shift in Valve / Steam monetization and culture. Things are fine now, but that’s still a corporation, and shareholders will want to get the last drop out of it just as these shitheads do to everything else.

Open ##4494744
@Eldritch@piefed.world 2026-08-10 22:30

Piracy tends to be a solution to customer service problems. For all the issues with steam, and there are many. For the average customer the service is generally great. Then there’s the fact of their prolific support of open source projects. Some great like KDE, proton, fex and arch. Some questionable like forking waydroid for lepton and not working with the original devs. And pushing open platforms etc with their own products. Then there’s the largely flat corporate structure which also appeals to many on the left. As something to promote for others to emulate. Which yeah if we’re going to have corporations would be better than the extremely vertical financial vehicles of the bourgeoisie. But there are lots of good criticisms of them too. Like enabling gambling via loot boxes etc in CsGo and TF2 etc.

Open ##4495219
@onlinepersona@programming.dev 2026-08-11 05:58

I’m one of the people that appreciates Steam, but doesn’t trust it because their good will can disappear at the drop of a cent. There’s no guarantee they can’t and won’t go evil. They don’t want to moderate the rampant Nazis in their forum and games you “buy” are just actually loans. If steam shuts down today, every game you bought is gone. So I’m taking precautions and buying from stores that do provide games without DRM. Steam isn’t perfect and won’t ever be. It’s pretty, but won’t always be. I can criticise the bad parts because I’m not some fanboy cuck.

Open ##4496233
@Archimedes@sh.itjust.works 2026-08-11 11:10

The contribution to Linux development offsets the DRM.

Open ##4497172
@blaise@champserver.net 2026-08-11 11:24

Just because Steam offers a DRM option doesn’t mean that it’s mandatory: pcgamingwiki.com/…/List_of_DRM-free_games_on_Stea… pcgamingwiki.com/…/The_big_list_of_DRM-free_games…

Open ##4497530
@otp@sh.itjust.works 2026-08-10 21:46

My hypothesis is that Lemmy is very pro-Linux, and Steam has made gaming easier on Linux while also bringing Linux to more mainstream eyes. As well, the younger crowd on Lemmy are probably on the younger side that grew up with Steam being basically infinite games available at low prices without having to resort to piracy, rather than the older crowd which first experienced Steam as software overhead needed to run a game that was already paid for.

Open ##4497879
@Ilandar@lemmy.today 2026-08-11 01:52

Lemmy is disproportionately made up of Linux users and I think many of us appreciate how much simpler and easier Steam (or the work of Steam) has made gaming for us or people we know. Also, I think it’s a bit of a misconception on your part that because we have some level of interest in piracy we must therefore be stoutly against anything which appears to conflict with that. I pirate because it’s a way to save money and, sometimes, a better service too, but I’m not an activist or evangelical in my support for it. Piracy is never going to be the solution for everyone and having some simpler and less intimidating alternatives out there is a good thing, even if they are far from perfect and could deteriorate at some point in the future.

Open ##4501203
@BladeFederation@piefed.social 2026-08-11 02:44

I very much am of the opinion that piracy is a usability & accessibility issue. I believe that if someone spends a lot of time on a quality product that I very much enjoy, I should pay for it. Even from a completely selfish point of view, if I never pay, the gaming industry will be based solely on the dummies that don’t know how to pirate properly, and will thus be filled to the brim with trash. I’m not going to do moral grandstanding on a piracy subreddit if people disagree, this is my personal view. I remember not having any money. I still don’t have much really but enough to support some of the creators I like. I still pirate some games that I may enjoy, but do not want to support the terrible corporations that churn them out. Steam is one of the best ways to buy games in existence. Would I prefer them to not have DRM? Sure. Would I prefer a few other things, like not allowing third party launchers, kernel level anti-cheat, or any Ai generate content? Sure. But the fact remains, they’re one of the last companies that seem to remember UX matters. They also are dumping money into rapidly improving Linux as a whole, especially for gaming. If they were not so good, I would not give them money. It is really as simple as that.

Open ##4502093
@Binturong@lemmy.ca 2026-08-11 17:26

Because it too frequently props up opposing platforms who are objectively worse for customers as a comparison, and turns out to be Tim Sweeney in a mask. One monopoly’s existence doesn’t justify introducing competitors with worse business models just so their CEO can get their cut of the middleman action. I care about outcomes for end users, and most of the complaints I see about steam aren’t reflective of my lived experience with the platform, nor are they accompanied by actual ideas for improving the model.

Open ##4502988